From International Trader to Seoul Station and Back

Kim Tae-hyeon was a self-made businessman and a successful international trader. In spring 1998, as rising loan rates swelled his debts, he left his home at night. His last hope was a major Australian company, but it abandoned a supply contract with him and turned to another firm, and his business collapsed.

Over the next years he tried again, first in Pyeongtaek in Gyeonggi Province and then in Yeosu in South Jeolla Province, but neither venture worked. By 2006, eight years after the collapse, he had no money for groceries and once went four days without food. He searched rubbish bins for something to eat, and in Yeosu he realised he was homeless. He held on to his suit because it reflected his former status, but it wore out within months. Other homeless people gave him survival tips, pointing him to a clothing collection box and to places near the public baths where he could find washing supplies.

After about two years in Yeosu he moved in 2008 to Seoul Station. There he used a computer at a nearby social welfare centre to post on the online community Agora under the nickname bizlink. His first posts criticised exchange rate policy, but after positive responses he wrote about the lives of homeless people. Readers began to visit him at the station, and he and these supporters handed out rice cake soup to homeless people on Lunar New Year and Chuseok.

After five years on the street, Kim decided to change his life in 2010. He accepted a friend's offer to live with him and built from there, saying he had come to accept that his past was his own responsibility. In November 2014 he published a book on gender roles, married life and love, drawing on research and on conversations with about 500 people at Seoul Station. He also founded the Two Heart Happiness Institute, a one-man business offering marriage and personal advice.